Catch Up

[Allan MacLeod <armacleod@SK.SYMPATICO.CA>]

As I only just rejoined the list (I had not realized it had returned) I
apologize for this message which should be part of some previous
threads.
According to the appendix to Friedrich's biography, Gould's very last
recording was of Strauss's  B minor sonata.  The LP of which this was a
part was released prior to the Siegfried Idyll which was Gould's second
last recording.  Also recorded after the 1982 Goldbergs were Beethoven's
Sonata 13, Bach's Italian Concerto, Brahms's Ballades, op. 10 and
Rhapsodies, op. 79, and a Beethoven 2nd piano concerto conducted by
Gould with another pianist as soloist.  I thought that the Goldberg's
might have been the last project conceived and executed by Gould (many
of his recordings, such as those of Strauss, were the result of
recordings done here and there over months or years), but it appears
that all the Brahms on his posthumous LP were recorded after the
Goldberg's.  In any case, as his letters also reveal, Gould was
preparing to abandon piano recordings and was going to set out on an
ambitious conducting programme, including the B minor Mass.
As it happens, however, the 1982 Goldbergs were released in the US to
coincide with Gould's 50th birthday (he reviewed them in the Globe as I
recall) and were released in Canada to, sadly, honour his death.  By
coincidence, then, they really do bookend his career at CBS and, in a
sense, his recording life.

Information on the Glenn Gould Edition can be found at
www.sonyclassical.com. Looking at the Glenn Gould discography will give
you listings for recordings such as Building Your Baby's Brain as well
as Cds from the Edition.  So, scroll to the bottom of the Sony Classical
page to special editions and then find the Glenn Gould edition.  There
are also a few CDs that are not part of the edition, such as the Silver
Anniversary collection and the Original  Jackets edition and the Brahms
1 with Bernstein.

Perahia's recording of the Goldbergs is the only complete version I
truly enjoy.  He plays with a wit, joy and verve that reminds me of the
first Gould recording.  But for me the two Gould CBS recordings still
are the best.

Allan MacLeod